To examine anger and social anxiety as distinct predictors of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) severity, highlighting their roles as internalizing and externalizing factors in a Saudi Arabian community sample.
Key Findings:
Anger and social anxiety were strongly intercorrelated but showed divergent patterns in multivariate models, indicating their unique contributions to IGD.
Anger positively predicted IGD, while social anxiety negatively predicted IGD after controlling for shared variance, underscoring the complexity of these relationships.
Only social anxiety significantly predicted latent IGD severity in the SEM analysis, suggesting its critical role in understanding IGD.
Interpretation:
Social anxiety is a distinct internalizing correlate of IGD severity, emphasizing its importance in future IGD screening and research, particularly in Arabic-speaking contexts.
Limitations:
The study's cross-sectional design limits causal inferences, making it difficult to establish the directionality of relationships.
The sample may not be representative of all Arabic-speaking populations, which could affect the generalizability of the findings.
Conclusion:
Social anxiety warrants further investigation in relation to IGD, highlighting its role in avoidance-based coping and online social preferences.
